


Cry Baby

by bluefurcape (prettykid)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Day One, Friendship, KakaSaku Week 2016, prompt: salty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-23
Packaged: 2018-08-24 03:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8354434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettykid/pseuds/bluefurcape
Summary: She wears her heart on her sleeve.





	

Once upon a time, there lived a girl who cried too much.

She cried when she lost her best friend over a boy they both loved. In the moment, it seemed like the most terrible betrayal in the world, and that she would never be able to trust someone like that again.

That was wrong. She did trust again because that was the way she was and deep down she wanted to believe she could trust people.

She cried when Sasuke, that same boy she had lost her best friend over, abandoned her and their village no matter how hard she begged. The tears just kept coming. Even though she had done nothing wrong, she couldn’t help but feel that if only she could have helped him somehow, he would have stayed. It was a silly thing, she would realize many years later, but the guilt had been real back then.

She cried when she passed her exams and became the only member of her former team to be promoted to chunin. After the small ceremony, she had escaped the celebration that was thrown for the genin who passed. Her feet led the way and she found herself on the outskirts of the village, rubbing her red rimmed eyes, scowling at herself for coming here. She plopped down on the bench and covered her face with her hands, sniffling.

Shortly after, there was the crunch of sandaled feet on gravel, a courteous gesture to let her know that he was approaching. She glanced up at her former teacher who had appeared by some odd coincidence. It was almost easy to convince herself that it was a trick of the light, since they had both been avoiding each other in the past year. She had not seen him since…since…

“Yo,” he said, sitting next to her on the bench— _the_ bench, she belatedly realized. The bench where everything had changed. He, meanwhile, looked exactly the same.The same slouching, relaxed curve to his back. The same mask covering his face and forehead protector over his eye. “Congrats on the promotion.”

“Thanks,” she muttered as she stared at her hands. She gripped her knees. “I guess this means I outrank Naruto now.” And Sasuke, she didn’t add out loud.

There was a time when that edge of superiority would have delighted her, but now, all it reminded her was how far apart they had grown. She could actually feel the widening gap from her team that had once been like a second family to her.

“Soon you’ll be the same rank as me.” Kakashi’s eye crinkled in a smile, the expression placid, as if they had only seen each other the other day for training instead of becoming strangers again over the past year.

The same rank as him. That was somewhat beyond her imagination. Her? On the same level as the Copy Nin? She laughed, but the sound tumbled into a sob. “I miss them so much.” The words choked out of her swollen throat. She couldn’t breathe. Her cheeks stung from her salty tears as she wiped them away. How many times had she been told not to cry so much? She was a kunoichi. It was unbecoming of someone who was supposed to be strong enough to fight for the village.

She knew her old teacher already thought little of her. Sasuke was the only one Kakashi had deemed good enough for any kind of real effort. In the weeks leading up to the first chunin exams, the two had disappeared without a word to Sakura. She guessed all the nice speeches about teamwork and working together were not as true as she wanted to believe. They clearly didn’t value her enough to give her at least that courtesy.

She needed to stop showing people her tears if she was ever going to catch up to the boys. If she was ever going to be taken seriously. She was about to apologize and go home when Kakashi’s hand settled over her head, ruffling her short hair.

“I miss them too,” he said.

She stilled, unable to believe that he’d just confided something to her.Maybe from anyone else, it would have sounded like an empty echomeant to comfort her, but this was Kakashi and he would never waste his words like that. The slight weight on her head lifted. She turned to him and found him still smiling at her, although his brow had tilted up in apology.

“Thank you, sensei.” Her voice was barely above a whisper and trembled. Damn it, why couldn’t she sound less like a little girl for once?

She resolved to never cry in front of anyone again.

…

She broke this promise about a month later when Ino knocked on her door with a huge bouquet of flowers and an apology. All those years fighting over Sasuke. It was so silly of them.

She kept crying, kept her heart on her sleeve, although maybe not as much as she used to when she was a child. It was, she accepted eventually, a part of who she was. At least she didn’t cry in front of Kakashi again for a good, long time. He was often away from the village, doing who knows what, during her first years under Tsunade’s tutelage. Important, dangerous things, probably. He’d probably forgotten all about the pink haired girl he had once been forced to accept as his student.

Good.

She wanted to forget her too.

Then Naruto came back and their team reformed—changed, but stronger. The war was a blur of painful memories and death. Yet, they all came out as war heroes. Legends. People began to call her a Sannin—something that bewildered Sakura to no end. She had spent so long studying, working, and training, that it was bizarre to be labeled as a ‘sage.’ It implied that she was a being blessed by some kind of divine knowledge or spent years in passive meditation beneath a waterfall. She wondered what people would think of her long nights spent at the library, poring over medical texts and drinking enough coffee to kill a small horse.

The end of the war at least meant peace. Or, at least, as peaceful as life could be for a shinobi. Team Kakashi was disbanded once more. Obviously, the Rokudaime couldn’t personally lead missions while looking after the village at the same time. Sasuke left again, this time under different circumstances, claiming he needed to atone—although Sakura wasn’t sure how he was supposed to accomplish this better outside of their village. It made sense in his mind and she could never claim to understand him anyway.

She and Kakashi were the only ones there to see Sasuke off. There wasn’t be many in the village who wanted Sasuke to stay in the first place, despite how the war had ended. Together, they watched Sasuke’s dark silhouette become nothing more than a speck on the horizon. He didn’t turn back once.

Kakashi finally looked over at her, seeing her shoulders slumped forward, her head hanging. He mussed her hair, winking with the eye that had once been the sharingan. It now matched his natural eye, although the scar still ran from the edge of his brow down to his cheek. “Shall we head back? We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

She steeled herself with a smile, taking a big breath. “Yea, we should go.”

“Hold on.” Kakashi reached over, touching her face briefly, his thumb catching a tear that she hadn’t even noticed. She suppressed a wince, angry at herself for crying in front of him again. He would probably think that she was still not over Sasuke.

She waited for him to say something, to comment, but he didn’t. He continued on his way as if nothing had happened.

Finally, she said softly, “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

 

 


End file.
